Sustainable materials management

USEPA (2007) Sustainable materials management materials management and the 3Rs Initiative. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). http //www.hepa.gov/oswer/intemational/ factsheets/ndpm-3rs-initiative-and- materialsmanagement.html. Accessed 10 Apr 2011... 

Sustainable material management has to pursue both economic and ecological objectives in order to succeed in global competition. Material flows have to be optimised in quantitative and qualitative terms so that the services in question can be rendered with maximum efficiency and minimal emissions. Moreover, business companies are generally aware of the fact that only those companies will survive that continuously improve their performance while enhancing customer orientation and, above all, avoiding excessive resource consumption. 

In the area of sustainable materials management, the need for lightweight but strong materials, which combine high performance with reduced environmental impact, should be noted. Reducing weight can be accomplished by developing... 

Figure 1.3 Waste management hierarchy according to a) Directive 2008/98/EC on waste, and b) US EPA s Sustainable Materials Management Program.

Ruben Snellings is a researcher at the Sustainable Materials Management unit at VITO, the Flemish Institute for Technological Research in Belgium. 

Sustainable Materials Management VITO - Flemish Institute for Technological Research Mol, Belgium... 

Jakl T, Joas R, Nolte R, Schott R, Windsperger A (2004) Chemical Leasing an intelligent and integrated business model with a view to sustainable development in materials management. Springer, Wien... 

Excellence in materials management requires continuous effort at all levels of the organization. Management s duty is to set up and sustain systems that avoid materials mix-ups through adherence to the following ... 

In order to bring about sustainable waste management, one of the obstacles is that we live in a throughput economy , where materials and energy are used to make products, which are eventually discarded. To be more sustainable, there is a need to change to d. circular economy hy closing the materials loop - to use waste as the input material for other processes or products, in order to reduce waste and reduce the need for virgin raw materials. This is exactly what happens in nature. In nature, there are no wastes all wastes are recycled by natural processes. 

UNEP (2010). Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Consumption and Production - Priority Products and Materials. International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management, UNEP Publication, Paris. 

Lindahl P, Robert KH, Ny H, Broman G. Strategic sustainability considerations in materials management. J Clean Prod 2014 64 98-103. 

Hollomon s ethos, combined with his ferocious energy and determination, and his sustained determination to recruit only the best researchers to join his group, over the next 15 years led to a sequence of remarkable innovations related to materials, including man-made diamond, high-quality thermal insulation, a vacuum circuit-breaker, products based on etched particle tracks in irradiated solids, polycarbonate plastic and, particularly, the Lucalox alumina envelope for a metal-vapour lamp. (Of course many managers besides Hollomon were involved.) A brilliant, detailed account of these innovations and the arrangements that made them possible was later written by Guy Suits and his successor as director, Arthur Bueche (Suits and Bueche 1967). Some of these specific episodes will feature later in this book, but it helps to reinforce the points made here about Hollomon s coneeption of broad research on materials if I point out that the invention of translucent alumina tubes for lamps was... 

In both the materials used and the construction process, sustainability and efficiency will become standard. Improvements mjob site management and building design will reduce waste and cost of construction. Materials such as engineered wood, recycled carpeting, and cellulose insulation, which have lower environmental impact, will become cheaper and more widely available. Not only are buildings constructed with such material friendlier to the environment, they also provide higher-quality, lower-cost solutions. 

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